OCEAN COUNTY — A batch of tainted heroin may be linked to a pair of overdose deaths in Ocean County last week, prosecutors warned today.

Two men died of heroin overdoses in Point Pleasant and Seaside Heights on Jan. 10 and 11, and police found heroin secreted away inside wax folds stamped "Bud Light" at both scenes, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato.

Autopsies have not been completed in either death, and police have yet to conduct toxicology reports on the confiscated drugs, but Coronato issued the warning as a precaution this afternoon.

"These overdoses may have been caused by a batch of heroin that included toxic elements which prove fatal without medical attention," read a statement issued on Monday afternoon.

New Jersey has not seen an outbreak of overdose deaths linked to a "bad batch" of heroin since 2006, when a series of deaths in the Camden city area was linked to drugs laced with fentanyl, a potent, synthetic opioid.

Al Della Fave, a prosecutor's office spokesman, said the two deaths marked the first time police in Ocean County have seen the "Bud Light" stamp on packages of heroin in recent memory. While there is no immediate evidence to suggest the heroin used in the past two deaths were tampered with, Della Fave said his office would be remiss if it didn't warn the public.

There were a record-breaking 112 drug overdose deaths in Ocean County last year, and most of them were linked to heroin or opioids, Della Fave said. There were 53 overdose deaths in the county in 2012.

"In most cases, the issue is with heroin, what makes it so dangerous is that the impairment is immediate, and once you're impaired you're not able to make a conscious decision in terms of when to stop," Della Fave said. "Because of that, people will continue to indulge, and then there's no turning back."

Heroin abuse has surged in New Jersey since 2010, as young prescription pill addicts turned to the cheaper street drug after running low on funds for oxycodone and other substances.

The number of people admitted to treatment facilities for opiate abuse statewide grew by 11.4 percent in 2012, jumping from 22,757 in 2011 to 25,356, records show.